Jersey City Receives Tony Hawk Foundation Top Skatepark Grant

Jersey City, New Jersey's ambitious Berry Lane Park project will feature a world-class skatepark at its center, thanks to years of hard work and persistence from local advocates. Their efforts have also earned the project the Tony Hawk Foundation's top grant, which has brought the group within sight of their fundraising goal.

Working since 2002 to help communities across the U.S. create free public skateparks, the Tony Hawk Foundation announced the latest recipients of its grants this week. Four communities seeking to build free, quality public skateparks that will serve at-risk youth have been awarded the highly competitive prize, and each project represents skaters who banded together to articulate their vision for a skatepark, built a coalition of supporters, and ultimately secured the support of their local leaders.

"It's inspiring to see skaters work so hard for their communities, while earning the respect and trust of their city councils," said Tony Hawk. "These skatepark projects are the result of grassroots public efforts and real collaboration between the skaters, the community, and local leaders."

While THF Skatepark Grants provide both tangible financial assistance and an exclusive status that often attracts other grants and donations, the core work of the foundation is to educate both skatepark advocates and local leaders on the process of developing a proper skatepark.

Communities seeking to develop public skateparks should begin by studying the information at publicskateparkguide.org, which covers very step of the skatepark process, from creating a vision to skatepark design and construction.